Yet another RGB wiring question.

[Jedi Master Taka]

I am putting together a RGB lightsaber. It will be running a DX RGB LED with a rotary switch for color change and a second slide switch for the on and off. It will be direct driven.

Now my question is this. I can currently run the 3 main colors (Red, Green, Blue obviously) and I can run the 3 mixed basic mix colors Yellow, Cyan, and Purple/ Pink depending on how its resistored. Is there a way to set this up to run more mixes? Besides adding a pot and adjusting it each time I want to change the color? Could you maybe add a relay or something so that you could use two different resistors on the red and have Pink and purple as preset Switches on the rotary? If so exactly how would you wire that in, or is there a better option? Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

[cannibal869]

If I understand correctly, you're talking about on-the-fly variable resistors for color mixing?? i.e. Being able to change to different shades of pink/purple for instance (combos of red + blue)...

hmm... if you're talking about gradually changing, then you'd probably need some kind of dynamic controlled potentiometer. It can be done manually or digitally, just would take a bunch of different knobs or different parts.

If you used a relay, how would you determine which resistor to use? (i.e. what is your switching mechanism for the relay?)

If you're talking about just color mixing into preset combinations then a simple rotary switch can be used as is discussed elsewhere. If there's a particular shade of yellow / purple / pink/ aqua you're looking into, then you can always just preset it with a resistor or pot during assembly.

Sorry I don't think I was of much help here... :(

[Jedi Master Taka]

What I am going for is preselected preset colors.

Ok... I have Red, Green, and Blue, by default.
By combining those three, I can get Yellow, Pink, Cyan.
But by using different resistors, those can become Purple, Orange, ect.
Is there a way to Split the Red off so that I can resistor it in 2 different ways for 2 different switches. Say I want Purple but I would still like a bright red on another switch, or I would like to have both Pink, Purple, and a bright red, as three different switches on the rotary.

Does that make better sense?

[eastern57]

Usually rotary switches are binary (i.e. 000, 001, 010, 100, 101, 011, 110, 111). Which means Color on or off.

You can "fine tune" the individual dies, with pots, to alter and control the overall mix... for that perfect instant purple or yellow... but that will alter the individual brightness of the dies.

IOW, it's a matter of preference: what's your priority? Ease of use? Perfect colors? Quick-change of colors?... can't have all options, but you can have some.

[Jedi Master Taka]

I am mostly going fore the ease of changing things up. Fine tuning to a perfect purple... not so important on this saber. I have after some experimentation pretty much decided to dump the rotary switch in exchange for a Dip switch.